Online payments have become one of the most popular ways for websites, businesses, and other organizations to accept payments from their customers. When you are just getting started on integrating online payments into your digital marketing agency, you may experience some growing pains. Follow the tips below to integrate online payments into your digital marketing agency.
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Learn About Payment Providers and Merchants
Before you get too deep into online payment systems, it’s wise to get a grasp on some of the most relevant payment providers, gateways, and merchants that process payments online. Some of the most popular merchants are names you’ve likely heard of; Paypal, Stripe, and Square are just a few notable examples. Each merchant offers different benefits to your business, and learning how they differentiate will guide your decisions.
If you want to integrate certain payment types, such as payments through an American Express credit card, then all of these services will be able to help you. However, searching for merchants that accept more obscure payment types, such as cryptocurrencies, may prove to be a more challenging task. By doing some preliminary research and learning about your merchant options you’ll have a much easier time.
Select Your Favorite Payment Methods
Another productive approach when integrating online payments is to think about how you want your customers to be able to pay for your services. Some companies prefer direct payments due to their security concerns. In these cases, offering ACH and direct bank transfers is preferable. This same approach may not work for another company.
If you prefer one payment method over another then it’s fruitful to factor this into your integration process. Many digital marketing agencies are wary of accepting credit cards, for example, due to processing fees and other factors. You can eliminate uncertainty by doing your research and finding a few payment types that work for your purposes.
Focus on Website Functionality
Once you’ve done your research and chosen a merchant, you can get started on integrating it into your website. This step can be complicated, but it’s important to take the time necessary to get everything working without a hitch. Your web hosting service is likely familiar with payment processing integration, and they can serve as an excellent resource to help you when you’re getting started.
Website functionality is key, but you should also be sure that your payment processing channels are completely safe and secure. Using modern security technology such as MDR will help both you and your customers when exchanging sensitive financial data online.
Use Usability Testing and User Feedback
When you integrate online payment systems, you can use customer feedback to tweak your approach. Maybe your customers prefer one payment gateway over another. Perhaps they want more payment options. Regardless of customer wants, performing proper research will provide you with the scope you need to satisfy those who interact with your agency.
Usability testing is also a strong practice when you are integrating online payments. Before going public with your online payment tools, have a few members of your team test things out. Look for issues with payment completion, timely processing, refund processing, and website navigation. Finding holes in any of these areas makes it much easier to address problems before your payment integration is released to the public.
Tweak and Modify
As with any part of running a digital marketing agency on the internet, you will have to keep modifying your approach when integrating online payments. You may discover that you need to capture more customers by offering more digital payment types, for example. Tweaking your approach will lead to greater customer satisfaction, and it will also translate to more sales across your products and services.
Digital marketing agencies of all kinds can benefit from integrating online payments into their sales process. Be sure to reference these pointers if you are uncertain about how to get started on your payment integrations.